Management & Directors
BOARD OF DIRECTORS and Primary Management
Mark L. Ellis
President
Current President and CEO of Great Western Technologies Inc. (GWTI), Mark Ellis has spent 35 years in the Special Machinery Industry, providing engineering solutions to manufacturers on a global basis. Mr. Ellis's background in the dry cell battery industry extends to the early 1980s, when he was engaged in the production of automation equipment for battery manufacturers in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In the 1990s, as Executive Vice President of RD Systems (a leader in dry cell battery technology), Mr. Ellis initiated an aggressive sales and marketing campaign that targeted the Chinese NiMH (nickel metal hydride) battery industry and led to significant growth for that company. He traveled often and helped develop more than a dozen new battery facilities in Korea, Taiwan, and several locations in China.
Gary L. Billingsley, C.A., P.Eng., P.Geo.
Executive Vice President - Director
A professional engineer and geoscientist with more than 30 years' experience in the mineral industry — 24 of them in Saskatchewan — Gary Billingsley has been an officer and director of several public mining and mineral exploration companies during the past 18 years. In addition to his experience with uranium and base-metal exploration, Mr. Billingsley has been directly involved with putting Saskatchewan's largest gold mine into production and, on three separate occasions, has played a major role in the discovery of diamond-bearing kimberlite.
Joseph J. LaRocca
Vice President Operations - Director
Current Vice President of Operations and COO (Chief Operating Officer) of GWTI, Joe LaRocca has spent more than 21 years, as the plant manager of our current operations location, for Ovonic Battery Company, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices. During his years of work at the facility, Mr. LaRocca was the Co-Inventor for several US and Japanese patents in the area of Battery Alloy development and equipment used in the processing of NiMH Batteries. His experiences have taken him to various Asian locations to assist in commissioning several Powder and Electrode manufacturing facilities for the NiMH Battery industry. China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan are the main locations for the plant equipment installations he has supervised.
Miron Shamban
Vice President Marketing - Director
Mr. Shamban brings to GWTI 33 years of extensive international business experience in Central Asia, Russia, Europe, China, and the US, with especially strong expertise in the rare earth and refractory metals industries. Most recently, he was the President of Arris International Corporation, a company specializing in advanced technologies for rare earth, refractory metals, and specialty alloys applications. Prior to that, Mr. Shamban was Vice President of Arris International, with a focus on business development in Central Asia and Europe. Over the past 13 years with Arris International, Mr. Shamban has successfully developed custom solutions for manufacturing unique materials by combining top scientific ideas from around the world. He has also sourced, purchased, and managed supply chains of imported materials to the US from various regions around the world.
Throughout his career, Mr. Shamban has been a business advisor to government agencies, as well as to public and private companies and associations, where he assisted with technology transfer, business development, strategic planning, and market analysis. He also brings to the Company his extensive network of more than 200 top-level scientists and suppliers from Russia, Central Asia, and China.
James B. Engdahl
Director
With more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance at the executive level, Jim Engdahl has extensive expertise in financing mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations.
A former Vice President of Barclays Bank of Canada, Mr. Engdahl has served as President, CEO, and Director of Pacific & Western Trust, President and Director of Shore Gold Inc., and Vice President of Finance and Director of Claude Resources Inc., all of which are public companies. More recently, Mr. Engdahl was the Regional Advisory Partner of the corporate finance arm of one of Western Canada's largest accounting firms. This position came as a result of the accounting firm's purchase of Cascadia Ventures Inc. — a corporate financing and consulting group responsible for raising project financing in excess of $100 million — for which Mr. Engdahl was Managing Partner.
Mr. Engdahl was intimately involved in financing two producing gold mines in Saskatchewan. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Formation Capital Inc., a TSE-listed company currently bringing a cobalt/copper mine into production in the United States. His expertise in corporate finance, the global regulatory regime, and specialty metals will help enable Great Western Minerals Group and Great Western Technologies to wisely manage their forward growth.
David E. Smith
Director, Technical Services
David Smith has more than 25 years' experience in the field of vacuum induction melting. David's experience includes a wide range of alloy development knowledge that covers aerospace alloys, rare earth magnets, and battery and hydrogen storage alloy materials. Past work exposure includes both R&D and production alloys with Howmet Corp. and Ovonic Battery Company. Mr. Smith will be directing efforts to develop new products and processes for GWTI.